1/30/12 Rapid City Sunset

Nothing terribly amazing but it was pretty none-the-less. On an attempt to update my blog more often and to keep it updated with pictures I have most recently taken, I will post this account. Went up on Skyline Dr. again to watch the sunset. It was very warm today so it was an excuse to breathe some fresh air. There were some high clouds around as well that I thought would give the sunset a nice touch.


Here is the white balance warmer...


The high clouds began to thin out...


Clouds further south brought out some pink...


Mid-level clouds were advecting in from the northwest. At the outer edges some weak kelvin-helmholtz waves developed with the wind speed (shear) differences from the base of the cloud to the top...


The waves dissipated not long after...


The moon was nearly first quarter tonight as well and was quite bright. I tried to get the sneaky "lunar x" along the night/day line on the southern part of the moon formed from the shadows in the valleys but couldn't get it out. Its darn hard to accurately zoom into the moon and have it be in focus with a 100-300mm lense!



Well, that is all for now! Am hoping to get up to Spearfish area in the next week or so and take some pictures of ice off the waterfalls up there. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks for visiting!
Chip

1/22/12 Auroras in Rapid City

We were the only ones in the contiguous United States! Three waves were visible from 5-9pm local time (0-4z on the 23rd). I captured all three with the second wave around 8pm being the most prominent. Below is a few stills with the overall time lapse at the bottom. Enjoy!

I will be updating the blog with some other stuff soon too so check back and share it with your friends! I also started a twitter for anyone interested, you can find me at "@wx_chip".

Thanks again for checking it out!

Chip!